Thursday, December 20, 2007

Miscarriage news round-up: Early December

Still playing catch-up:

Apparently it isn't just those of us who have experienced it who fear we are to blame. According to this article, a recent study has shown that some women believe that women who miscarry or have bad pregnancy outcomes are to blame for what happened. Like the doctors conducting the research, I feared that women who had experienced poor pregnancy outcomes would be more likely to blame themselves, but the research didn't bear that out. (Apparently, doctors are doing a decent job of providing fact-based explanations (or explaining that there may be no explanation) for adverse pregnancy outcomes to those who experience them.) Instead, the less educated a woman was, the more likely she was to blame the mother and believe in myths, like that being exposed to something frightening could cause a poor outcome. Interesting stuff.

Historically, women with epilepsy being treated with AEDs were thought to be at greater risk of miscarrying. According to this article, recent research has shown that women on newer AEDs have a lower risk of miscarriage than those on older AEDs. If you are being treated for epilepsy and plan to become pregnant, discuss your medication with your doctor, as there may be ways to reduced your risk. (Though, obviously, also be sure to discuss the risks inherent in changing medication if your epilepsy is currently being effectively controlled by the medication you are on.)

This woman's story of an undiagnosed molar pregnancy was harrowing. She had miscarried at ten weeks, had what sounded like the British equivalent of a D&E, then, two months later, found herself expelling a significant amount of additional tissue. The D&E hadn't gotten all the molar cells, so they continued to grow.

I had hoped that story was an aberration, but apparently it's not, as a man in Virginia was sentenced to five years in jail after confessing to having caused his girlfriend's miscarriage in a similar fashion. Similarly, a man in the UK has also been charged in a similar offense and recently changed his not guilty plea. And this Canadian man kicked a woman causing her to miscarry twins, though much of the story beyond that point is unclear. What the f*ck is wrong with people?

About Me

P and I got married in the summer of 2005, three years after we got engaged. We started trying to conceive two years later and were incredibly lucky to succeed on the first try. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be, as there was something wrong with the baby's heart and it stopped beating. Miscarriage is super common, but we were still shocked it happened to us. This is our story -- a story of loss, trying again, and life in general.